


A Barnes Gathering

by Talliya



Category: Captain America (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clucky - Freeform, F/M, Heartwarming family time, M/M, Sassy Becca, Thanksgiving, WinterHawk Bingo, lots of fluff, proper folding of towels, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21527260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talliya/pseuds/Talliya
Summary: Rebecca invites her used-to-be-older brother and his boyfriend over for Thanksgiving. James does lots of soul searching, and sucks at board games. Clinton gets to spend a family holiday, with actual family for once. Also, there's a problem with the towels.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Rebecca Barnes Proctor/Henry Proctor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39
Collections: Winterhawk Bingo





	A Barnes Gathering

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any rights to Marvels works or characters. This work is not for profit.
> 
> Written for my "Becca Barnes" square as well as the Thanksgiving Theme: Family.
> 
> Also... threw in the domestic fluff of having differing folding styles that were discussed a while back in Marvel fan discord server.  
> I used Bucky's age from the comics... because google hates me and I couldn't find anything from MCU verse... all of Becca's stuff is also comic verse. I gave her nameless husband a name, and honestly see him as a lovely black skinned gentleman. fight me Also, their children are Elijah and Melissa... >_>

It was nearing Thanksgiving and Rebecca had invited them to her house for the holiday. Clinton had been excited to formally meet his boyfriend’s little sister, James however, was a rather nervous... as he knew that Rebecca was quite a bit older than him now. He wasn’t sure that that had sunk in for Clinton yet. She’d been younger than him 52 years ago, and in the last 52 years, he’d not aged much at all, and she had.

He’d only seen her twice since he’d been deemed ‘safe for society’. His little sister was 63 years old, and while he was technically 72... he still looked like he was younger than Clinton’s own 33. Rebecca had been a little dismayed to see her still twenty-ish looking brother walk up to her door. It had taken hours of convincing to get her to believe what had happened to him, and then hours more simply for him to come out and be honest with his sister about being made into an assassin for the other side, in and out of cryo.

Rebecca had taken it all in stride, he’d been so terrified he’d give her a heart attack or something, she was so much older after all. But, once things were explained to her satisfaction, and she had told him that so long as he did better now and was himself, she was proud of him - she’d pulled out a batch of cookies, and then talked about what had happened with her over the last 52 years. And then ribbed him over missing out on it, as any little sister should. He learned that she’d been married twice, the first had gone off to war shortly after they were married, and hadn’t returned, his medal of valor was on the mantle above the fireplace. Her second husband, Henry Proctor, was a wealthy man who bent himself over backwards to make her happy, even though she never asked him too. She loved him and their children dearly.

James’ second visit to her had been to meet Henry, as the man had been away on a business trip the first time. The man was a total gentleman, and James was sure Rebecca had told him about him already, or the man would have been far more shocked than he was. It just seemed against his character to be okay with a renowned assassin as a brother-in-law. As it was, Henry was very welcoming and it was obvious what Rebecca had meant about him bending over backwards to please her. His love for her was in everything he did. He could only hope that he wasn’t that bad with Clinton... or his sister would be making fun of him forever over it.

However, now he was driving over in a rented SUV with an excited Clinton beside him, going to celebrate _family_ with his little sister and brother-in-law. He knew Clinton was excited because he didn’t really have a family of his own. Natasha was the closest thing he had, her and perhaps Fury and others that he also worked with. And now James? Whenever he thought about considering Clinton as family, his stomach cramped and he suddenly had a hard time breathing. It wasn’t panic so much as... well, something he wasn’t sure what to call yet. He knew he loved Clinton, as a person, as a friend, enough to date him. Enough to want him around, and take him to visit his family. But the commitment... he wasn’t sure if they were ready for that yet. Maybe they were close? Anyway, Clinton didn’t have this kind of family thing to do, as his ‘family’ was generally busy working during holidays. So it was nice to be able to get away from work for a while.

James turned his head slightly to look over at Clinton, the blonde’s gaze entrapped by the snowy world they were driving through. He took a hand off the wheel and rested it, palm up on the center console and waited. It was an open invitation for Clinton, but he wasn’t going to push it if the man would rather stare out the car window. He didn’t want to seem needy, even though the felt like he desperately needed his boyfriends reassurance right now.

Clinton didn’t even turn his face from the view, but his hand reached back and covered James’, giving it a gentle squeeze which loosened the constricted feeling in James’ chest. A smile bloomed unnoticed on his face as they crossed the state-line into Illinois, they were almost there.

Arriving at his sister’s sprawling townhouse James had to hold in his snorts as Clinton’s jaw literally dropped open at the sight. “You’d think you’d never seen a house before Clint.”

“Shut up, it’s just really nice! And I live in New York, like, even the fancy old houses we have there... are generally apartment complexes anymore. Like, they have this _whole thing_ to themselves.” Clinton sounded like his mind was blown by the very concept.

James couldn’t keep his chuckles quiet as he unloaded their suitcases, his sister coming out the front door before they could even climb the steps to knock.

“James! And you must be Clint.” She sailed down the steps and shook hands with Clinton.

“Yes ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh. A charmer for a charmer huh?” Rebecca raised her brows at her brother, who ducked his head and blushed.

“Hush you.” He already knew that Clinton was charming.

It was Clinton’s turn to chuckle as he grabbed his suitcase from James and followed Rebecca into the house.

* * *

They were there for four days before James felt Rebecca’s eyes boring into his soul from across the living room. With a kiss to Clinton’s head and a nod to Henry, he rose from their card game and went to see what she wanted.

“Alright, why are you giving me the evil eye?” James asked.

Rebecca snorted and indicated with a head tilt that he should follow her. As she moved down the hallway to the linen closet James honestly began to fear for their lives. He knew Clinton was rather sloppy, they’d been living in a semi-shared space for about a year now. Clinton rarely folded his clothes, simply throwing them in his dresser, and while James had convinced his partner to at least keep his clothes zipped up out of site in his suitcase while they were here... said suitcase was a disaster that the blonde man was currently living out of. James’ own suitcase, which he was also living out of for the moment, was military neat. He hadn’t been able to get out of the habit, as it just made his life easier if things were put away neatly.

Clinton and James had had a few small scuffles over it. Clinton claiming that he was too regimented and tight, that he needed to be more laid back and open. James accusing Clinton of trying to kill him by leaving his clothes lying about on the floor when he wasn’t in them. It was why James had washed and folded the towels and washrags they had used since arriving - as they both took daily showers.

Rebecca opened the cupboard with the towels and gestured to it, “What do you see here James?”

He gave her a wary look before glancing in the cupboard. “Folded towels?”

She gave a gracious nod, and pointed to the counter in the next room, the laundry room. It was stacked with newly folded towels in need of putting away. “And over here?”

Now he was just lost, “More folded towels.”

“Yes, exactly, ones I would very much like to put away, however... they won’t fit anymore.” Her tone was hard.

Still confused James looked back at the cupboard, staring hard at it to figure out how it was full, when even with ALL the towels in the house in it, it would still have a bit of room. Rebecca was proud of that. It took several long minutes before he realized. His face falling, “Oh no. I’m so sorry Becs, I didn’t realize my folding them differently would make such a huge difference.”

Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. “Come on, grab the ones you did and bring them in here.”

James gathered them and turned to take them into the laundry room after his sister, seeing Henry and Clinton at the end of the hallway. He winced in their general direction and followed his sister. He placed them down beside her own pile, which she quickly took and moved into the cupboard before returning, seeing the other men herself. She flagged Clinton down, “Oh, perfect, Clint, could you come here please?”

“Sure thing.” A few seconds later he was standing beside James.

“Perfect, now, each of you take a towel please.” She grabbed one of his army perfect towels and shook it out. Clinton followed her lead, James did so reluctantly. “I’m gonna show you boys how things are folded in this house, and I expect you to remember and do this whenever you’re here.”

Clinton swallowed hard and James was about to protest but she continued, “The military obviously beat this system out of my brother, but I’ll damn well beat it back in if I have to.”

James blinked, closed his mouth and simply awaited her command. She gave a curt nod and then proceeded to show them how to fold their towels so they would fit in the cupboard properly. She repeated it until they could do it on their own, without looking at her example, her doing it, or each other doing it. Then she clapped her hands, and gathered the towels and put them away. “Splendid! Now, see that you remember boys.”

Clinton leaned his chin and James’ shoulder, “She is scary.”

James chuckled, “She certainly can be. But, at least she had us do it now, instead of tomorrow when several of her and Henry’s friends will be over for Thanksgiving.”

Clinton’s arms slid around his waist, “That is true. I’d much rather be embarrassed in front of just you.”

Snorting James turned in his arms, “ _You_ were embarrassed, I used to fold my towels that way too... until the military conditioned me to do it a different way. I should have remembered or at least realized my little sister wasn’t going to use military standards in her home.”

“Mmm.” Clinton bent his head and captured James’ own in a soft kiss. “At least she knows what your issue is though... I’m just lazy and don’t actually fold anything ever.”

James chuckled again, “So true.” He stepped back and grabbed one of Clinton’s hands, “Come on, lets see if they need any help cooking or baking anything for tomorrow.”

* * *

Thanksgiving day dawned sunny and cool, with a slight breeze that was just the pick-me-up James and Clinton needed from their ordeals in the kitchen the previous afternoon, as they took an early morning walk to gather fallen leaves for a project Rebecca wanted to do.

When they returned there were a couple new cars parked out front, James instinctively reached for Clinton’s hand. Clinton, being himself, gave him a small grin and raised their hands to his face where he kissed the back of James’, making him blush.

They made it inside and Rebecca introduced them to her son Elijah and his wife Sally, and their children Scott and Kimberly. Then to her daughter Melissa. He and Clinton shook hands with all of them a tremulous smile on his face, as he realized just how much of his family’s lives he’d missed out on. Clinton had a grin for his family, but resolutely wrapped his arm around James’ shoulders and squeezed. A show of solidarity that let James know that he understood, and was there for him, and also that he probably shouldn’t cry... at least not in front of everyone.

Scott and Kimberly were drug in by their grandmother to make leaf wreaths from the leaves that Clinton and James had collected that morning. Henry and Melissa took over in the kitchen, so Elijah, Sally, Clinton, and James all sat around in the living room for an hour or so simply being awkward and not knowing what to say as they attempted to play scrabble.

Then there was a steady stream of people arriving for dinner, all friends of his sister and her husband. They were introduced to everyone as they arrived, but by the time they’d all sat down to dinner at Rebecca’s extremely large formal table, James had forgotten most of their names. Which was okay, as they didn’t require him to call them by name to speak to him. It was fun, especially seeing Clinton blush every time Rebecca referred to him as her ‘little brother’. Though, he was sure _he_ blushed every time she did that too.

Dinner itself was fantastic, apparently Rebecca had inherited their mother’s old cookbook, so James got to eat things he hadn’t tasted since he was ten. Roast turkey with stuffing that was moist but not soggy, beets, a bowl of just olives, apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, yams with marshmallows, snicker-doodles, spiced wine, apple cider, hot chocolate, various hot teas to make, mashed potatoes and brown gravy, roast duck, giant fluffy biscuits, fudge (that James had made the day before), apricot and pecan pie, two crocks of spreadable butter - one regular and one sweet, a large honey roasted ham, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, a bowl of ambrosia (which was Clinton’s contribution), a bowl of salad - a bag of croutons beside it, and a large bowl of potato salad. Everything was spiced or sweetened to perfection.

When most everyone was full, Henry suggested they play some games to pass the time, bringing out backgammon, chess, checkers, scrabble, and several decks of cards. They spent the remainder of the evening playing various games with various people. James was so rusty at most of them he lost to everyone, making Clinton declare that he was going to play more games with him at home. It would certainly be something to look forward to after missions.

As the night came to a close and they all said their goodbyes, James giving his number to his niece and nephew should they need to contact him, he decided that it had been a pretty good decision to come. And he wholeheartedly thanked his sister for inviting them. It got a smile out of her and an open invitation for any other holiday they had no other plans for. They spent the rest of the night making sure they had everything so they could leave in the morning.

* * *

“So... was this really okay? I mean, we got teased so much, like, did you have a good time?” James asked, seemingly out of the blue.

“Are you kidding? I had a **great** time!” Clinton blinked at his boyfriend over the hood of the car as they returned to it from a diner on their way home. “I may even actually start folding my towels. Though, I can’t be sure about folding anything else.”

James did an aborted laugh half sigh thing that made Clinton grin. He shook his head and failed to fight the smile from his face, “I’m glad. Sorry, I just... don’t know how to feel I guess?”

“Do you ever?” The question wasn’t malicious, simply Clinton’s curiosity getting the better of him.

“I know how I feel about you.” James looked up and gave him a small heartfelt smile.

“Aww, babe.” Clinton’s flush started at the top of his head and vanished under the neckline of his sweater. He ducked his head, but James didn’t miss the happy smile on his face.

They got back into the car and continued on home, fingers laced on the center console. James hadn’t lied, this last week had made him realize that he did in fact know exactly how he felt about Clinton. He loved him and wanted them to be together, forever if possible. He didn’t mind that Clinton was messy, and Clinton didn’t really mind that he was a neat freak. They worked, they were... well, family. Having his sister calling Clinton her ‘little brother’ had sealed it. And while he wasn’t at all sure about proposing... maybe marriage wasn’t such a bad idea?


End file.
